Editors' Review

iWeb 09 is Apple's Web site design and publishing tool. With it you can lay out your Web site without knowing HTML or CSS, apply preconfigured themes, and publish the result through FTP to a Web hosting company. There's a lot of functionality built into iWeb 09, making Web design possible for those who are not technical.

The iWeb 09 interface is designed to guide you step-by-step through each part of the design process. Start by choosing a theme from a list of supplied templates, then design page by page by replacing placeholder content with your chosen content. You can add media from files or from your camera with automatic resizing. Customization of the templates is quite easy, using drag-and-drop. Add blogs and podcasts to your site with a click! There are some really useful layout capabilities as well as neat features like the ability to easily embed maps. Finally, publish to an FTP server or a MobileMe account. The entire process is simple and lets anyone design a Web site.

While the sites iWeb 09 provides are templated, the ability to customize reduces the cookie-cutter Web site design problem. We like how simple iWeb 09 is to use. Even someone with no experience in Web coding can create and publish a site in under 30 minutes. Sure, there are more powerful Web design tools on the market, but there aren't any as easy!

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Publisher's Description

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From Apple:
iWeb makes it easy to create a website that's stunningly beautiful and totally you. Start with an Apple-designed theme, then customize it with your own text, photos, movies, and podcasts until it's exactly what you want. And switch themes with a click anytime.

What's new in this version:

This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of minor issues.

Pretty easy to either figure out yourself or find many user videos elsewhere online that explain how to do this or that.

Cons

Can't embed video! I can attach videos with ease, but it won't embed videos from another site, at least not in Snow Leopard.

Summary

There doesn't seem to be any answers online for problems like I had, and the ones that were even close were dated years ago and were no help at all. Am I really the first to mention this quirk?
When trying to embed either my Youtube or Vimeo videos I either get a dead black square(even after trying 'publishing') or with the Youtube snippet it kept saying 'code was invalid'. Frustrating and maddening to no end!
I suppose for anything else tho, this is a great way to make a site and make it look pretty darn good pretty easily. I wanted it for my videos tho, so it is totally useless. Uploading videos from my Desktop works sure, but that exponentially increases the space needed for a website and it's increased cost, so I have a great website builder that is now totally useless to me. Thanks Apple...

It will UPDATE an existing version of iWeb 3.xx, not sure if it will install as a new version

Cons

The file I downloaded got a complaint from the OS telling me the certificate was out of date (first problem). Then I ignored that error and got the file and the MAC OS then said I didn't have the right version to be updated by this file.

Summary

When I grabbed the 3.04 update from the apple site (above) it worked fine, installed, so I'm a happy camper.

-Easy to use drag and drop interface-Very customizable-Import media with the Media Browser in iLife-Publish to FTP server or local folder (MobileMe is fading, so that is not good for hosting..)-Takes very little time to make with the various themes-No knowledge of HTML, Java, or CSS required.-Makes embedding/using gadgets very easy

Cons

-Does not allow HTML editing; you must get a text editor, and revise after you publish the site-Can be fussy about opening a different Domain file than the one it usually uses-Sometimes loses items on the page when publishing-No drop-down menus

Summary

If you don't like to work with code, this is the perfect site builder for you. It's intuitive interface, drag and drop gadgets, easy publishing, and ability to do a lot of customizing is great.

However, it is not good for a professional design suite (obviously). It does not allow coding, which can get annoying.

All in all, a GREAT product for people to use to create easy websites.

The Bottom Line:Does exactly what it's supposed to do, but it would be great if it could do a bit more complex things.

Hi, Thank you for your review, I built my website using I web about two years ago one someone else computer. I now got a Mc book myself and need to update my website. I contacted Apple and they say that they don t do iweb anymore... What would you advise me to do? download i webfrom this website and do the modification or use another app like sandvox or rapid weaver?Thank you for your help

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Thank You, !

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